Love Your Heart in February (and always)

Confucius: "Wherever you go, go with all your heart."


February is dedicated to heart health, and includes the celebration of Valentine's Day with all types of artwork and symbols of the heart. We sing songs about the heart, cross our hearts and hope to die if we tell a lie, and vaguely worry about random chest pains. But how well do we know this muscular organ that keeps us alive? 

Consider this about the heart:
*a normal heart valve is about the size of a half dollar
*our hearts beat about 100,000 times a day
*each minute your heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood
*a woman's average heartbeat is faster than a man's heartbeat by almost 8 beats a minute. (From the Cleveland Clinic) 

Did you know that a man's heart weighs about 10 ounces and a woman's heart weighs about 8 ounces? (From WebMD)

Every year in the United States about 735,000 people have a heart attack. (From Centers for Disease Control)

Which day of the week is the most common for heart attacks? No surprise - Monday. (From the Journal of Epidemiology) 

Let's love our hearts and go for a walk while listening to a playlist created just for this hard working muscle.
Song suggestions: 
Young at Heart - Frank Sinatra
Unbreak My Heart - Toni Braxton
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John & Kiki Dee
Your Cheatin' Heart - Patsy Cline
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty
Heartache Tonight - Eagles
Open Your Heart - Madonna
Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
Piece of My Heart - Janis Joplin
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Heart and Soul - Ella Fitzgerald
Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart - Judy Garland
I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett
One Small Heart - Mary Chapin Carpenter

 "Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams...keep me in your heart for a while."  Keep Me in Your Heart - Warren Zevon (1947-2003)


                             
                                   February Days

1       - National Freedom Day (Lincoln signed resolution to end slavery)

2       - Groundhog Day

3       - The Day the Music Died (1959 -- near Clear Lake, Iowa)

6       - Take Your Child to the Library Day

7-12  - Children's Authors and Illustrators Week
         - Freelance Writers Appreciation Week

8        - Chinese New Year (Year of the Red Monkey)

9        - Mardi Gras

10      - Ash Wednesday

14-20 -Random Acts of Kindness Week

14       -Library Lovers Day
           -Valentine's Day

15       - Presidents' Day

29       - Leap Day. Celebrate an extra day!! 

                                           * * * * *

Enjoy new books by Jonathan Kellerman, James Patterson, Debbie Macomber, J.D. Robb, Lisa Gardner, Jo Nesbo, Phillip Margolin, Ian Rankin, Chrissy Teigen, Carrie Fisher, Ethan Canin, Stephen Coonts, Yann Martel, Will Shortz, Danielle Steel, Joyce Maynard, Diana Gabaldon, Jeffrey Archer and the Dr. Who Coloring Book. 

February is American Heart Month, Library Lovers Month, National Black History Month, National Haiku Writing Month, National Mend a Broken Heart Month, Spunky Old Broads Month.


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